from london. >> hello everyone, i'm felicity barr. this is the news hour live from london. coming up in the next 60 minutes. a powerful kurdish group in syria say it's ready to declare an autonomous region. >> today i'm nominating chief judge merrick brian garland to join the supreme court. >> barack obama sets up a showdown with republicans. as he names his choice for the country's most powerful court, and the race for the white house

the republican field narrows as marco rubio drops out while clinton is in poll position for the democratic nomination. plus the misunderstanding with the u.n. chief that has seen morocco threat ton pull peace keepers out of western qatar. >> and i'm with all the sport including fifa seeking to reclaim tens of millions of dollars taken illegally by former executives who have now been indicted by u.s. authorities. >> hello, we begin in the north of syria where a powerful kurdish group, the pyd, has unveiled its plans to establish it's own autonomous region. the group wants a federal region said to hold three-quarters of that board which is 800 kilometers long. the expected declaration has

angered syria's opposition with turkey. ankara said that it supports an united syria saying that unilateral moves like a federation aren't valid. this comes as sir yeahs government and main opposition attend talks in geneva in which kurds were excluded. >> it's only day three of geneva, and there is no shortage of shock announcements. let me move out of the way where you have a sense of where we are. that's kobane, the kurds managed expel isil in very, very heavy fighting. and the yellow flag of the ypg flies over the town. the kurdish proposal, if you take it at face valley, would put together the little autonomous regions like kobane and join them up in a federal grouping which stretches

hundreds of kilometers all the way to the iraqi border and joins us with the enclave in northern iraq as well. what do the other parties make of it? certainly the turks in ankara are extremely concerned about this. they have long accused the ypg of acting in coordination with the pkk inside turkey. there is pro y pg graffiti. apart from the turks saying they don't like the idea of syria being divided and broken up in the federal system, this makes them extremely incur about the security if they hold this economy and these sorts of things as well. >> well, the pyg has not been invite to the negotiations in geneva where the syrian governments and option has been holding talks.

our diplomatic editor james bays has more details. >> as the talks in geneva continue. a group that has not been invited and force themselves on the agenda. they decided to exclude the pyd from the process for now under pressure from turkey which calls the kurdish party a terrorist group. they said the federallalism is an issue to be decided by the representatives of the syrian people at the talks. >> the u.n. position is very clear when it comes to every syrian that i spoke to stands with the unity and sovereignty of the syrian nation. >> the head of the pyd actually turned up for the last round of talks in january before he found out that he was not invited. other opposition members said that his party should be excluded because they have been working with the assad regime.

>> only when they openly announce that they're disengaged with the regime completely. only then will they have a place in the syrian revolution and they will then be welcomed with open arms as part of the delegation in geneva. >> the syrian government chief negotiator bas bash ir al-jeffrey ignored my questions. >> the russians allies came to syria by a joint decision. and the day they will leave it will be done through a joint syrian-russian coordination action. >> he used the opportunity to attack the high negotiations committee, who have been at the same podium a matter of hours earlier and in particular

mohammed alossh who is a prominent member of the committee. >> it's not an honor at all to sit with terrorists in direct talks. he belongs to a terrorist faction that has hit embassies and killed citizens. that's why we'll never have direct talks unless this terrorist has apologized for what he has done and then withdraw his connection and then he should shave his beard. >> that shows the mistrust behind the scenes on a day when the announcements by the pyd make this process even harder. james bays, al jazeera, the united nations in geneva. >> u.s. president barack obama has announced his nomination to take his seat at the supreme

court. there is an empty seat on the supreme court after justice antonin scalia died in february. president obama's choice must not be confirmed by the u.s. senate. >> he walked away from a comfortable and lucrative law practice to return to public service. merrick accepted a low level job as federal prosecutor in president george h. w. bush's administration. he traded in his elegant office for a windowless closet that smelled of stale cigarette smoke. this was a time when crime in washington reached epidemic proportions, and he wanted to help. he made a name for himself going after corrupt politicians an and criminals. >> what are the implications of obama's nomination? >> well, it's basically made very plain, felicity, the tough

partisan nature of government in washington right now. even before the president had decided that he was going to nominate judge garland to the high court, republicans in the senate had already said that they wouldn't consider anyone that the president would nominate because they say that we're in an election year and we should wait for a new president to be installed in 2017. well, the president's view is that we can't wait. he has an institutional duty to nominate someone and in his view the senate needs to move on his nomination. whether or not the person is ultimately approved. so that is what we're going to. for his part, judge merrick garland had a few moments to address the crowd at his nomination ceremony, and he talked a little bit about his judicial philosophy. >> as my parents taught me by both words and deeds, life of public service is as much a gift to the person who serves. as it is to those who he is serving. and for me there could be no

higher public service. than serving as a member of the united states supreme court. >> ros, explain how this all place into the wider electoral race this year? >> well, basically the republican argument is that because this is the last year of barack obama's presidency, and because of the highly partisan nature of the election campaign that's under way, that really the next president should be the person to fill the vacancy that was left by the death of antonin scalia. that would an vacancy of almost a year if you wait until january 20, 2017, for the next president to come on board. the democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton has already put out a statement saying that the vacancy needs to be filled now for the sake of justice for the united states. republicans, on the other hand, including the republican frontrunner donachie said that

no, we should wait until there is a new president. now that does not mean that there is going to be a new president that there will be a quick filling of this vacancy that would last that long. but it has become a very political argument, and it's something which president barack obama said earlier on wednesday that he wishes was not happening. >> roz in washington, thank you. well, the race for the republican presidential nomination is down to three candidates after marco rubio pulled out. nomination votes in five more states saw donald trump and hillary clinton both pull away in their respective contests. marco rubio suspended his campaign after losing to trump in his home state of florida. trump also won in illinois and north carolina and missouri. john kasich won in his home state of ohio. the result pushes trump closer to the number of delegates needed to secure the republican nomination. he now has 621. on the democratic side, hillary clinton beat bernie sanders in

four states and has the edge in missouri. she now has almost double his tally of delegates and is firm favorite to clench the democratic nomination. john hedron reports. ♪ >> john kasich's home state of ohio has put him back in the race. >> when you listen and you find your purpose, you're on fire. >> but after winning just one state, analysts say he has one strategy available to him, team up with the other anti-trump candidates. >> we welcome you to our team. >> texas senator ted cruz, to block the billionaire. >> the possibility that kasich wins the nomination outright through delegates is virtually zero, but there is now a much greater chance that he and perhaps with ted cruz as well could deny trump the absolute majority of delegates and then we go to the summer to see how the republicans try to sort all

this out. >> if that happens the republican party will have it's first contested convention since 1948. that means that the delegates are freed up and they have a solution. and anything could happen and any candidate could win the nomination for the ultimate prize. after sweeping florida, north carolina, missouri and illinois, donald trump has half of the delegates that he needs to seize the nomination for president. for hillary clinton after winning all five tuesday primaries the road ahead looks clearer than ever. >> i think what we saw the democrats are consolidating around their frontrunner, secretary hillary clinton is gaining votes. she's enlarging her margin of delegates and i think she's well on a path towards the nomination. >> clinton's democratic rival bernie sanders has vowed to stay in the race until the end. but increasingly she's focusing her fire past sanders. >> that does not make him

strong. it makes him wrong. to the man she expects to be her rival in november, donald trump. >> now a look at the race for the white house stand right now. we will we're joined by lindsay newman, thank you so much for coming in to the studio. let's break this down into a little bit if we can. if all three republican candidates, kasich, cruz, trump, stay in until the convention, does that mean that trump is not catchable by any other candidate? >> the thing to remember only 60% of the delegates on the republican side have thus far been allocated in primary races. so it is still very much an open race, but trump is ahead by 250 or so delegates more or less. it will be hard for kasich and for cruz to catch him. >> and it gets harder still. most of the future primaries coming up are a winner takes all. it's not awarded on

proportionnal reputation. if you win the state, you win all the delegates in that state. >> absolutely. so starting yesterday from here on out, a number of races will be winner take all. in some cases the winner take most. but yes, winner take all you just need to win by the slimmest of margins and all the delegates will start pouring in. >> what happens if trump gets the required number of delegates by the time we get to the convention in june? what can the republican party establishment do to stop him? there are ways? >> well, if he gets all the points the majority of the delegates that is required in order to secure the nomination, it is really tricky to see how the party is not going to coalesce behind him at that point. >> but a lot of them have said i'm not going to do that. there have been speculation, rumors that this could split the republican party.

and from respected analysts, u.s. political analysts who say this could be a complete split, a complete breakdown of this party. >> sure, what is interesting. an after last night trump won three races and knocked rubio out of that race and basically tied in missouri. still what we're seeing is this instability that is on the republican side. trump will continue to do what he needs to do, which is to win races, and there is a question of how they're going to coalesce behind him. >> there is a chance, and we've seen it in the last couple of interviews that trump has given, that he'll rein back on the rhetoric that he has been spouting over the past year. he has been looking for the delegates to get his vote. he's talking about unifying the party. at the moment it looks impossible but is there a chance that he could do that?

>> conventional wisdom says that he would shift towards the owe tenner, but this is not a race of conventionalism. it's just been the way things have gone. what he has been doing--what rhetoric he has been putting forth, how he has been appealing to answered free trade has been appealing to the voters. at this point it is hard to see why he would shift if that's what is tapping into that voter base that he's looking for. >> clearly, hillary clinton on the democratic side thinks that trump has the nomination because she has turned all attacks on him. she ignores bernie sanders. she thinks that he's going to be the man she'll be up against. >> it has been a good win now she has the freedom to shift her general race, and she sees donald trump as the big fish to start chipping away at, and she'll be taking that opportunity. >> i was out there tuesday a

couple of weeks ago. what i found extraordinary was that people were telling me that hillary clinton herself is not widely liked in the united states. because of her past history. to outside people think this is a woman who has experience being in the white house, she has experience of the international office. why is she so widely disliked? mr. she just has a long history with the american public. like anything, when enyou have a long history people see warts and all. it's just coming down to knowing her so well. we've watched her over the last 20 years. just about having more information more knowledge and that's where that comes from. >> very interesting stuff. >> thank you very much. >> okay, you're watching the news hour on al jazeera, and still to come, more than 600 refugees are rescued at sea off the coast of libya. but will they be able to continue their journey?

brazil's former president gets a senior job in his successive government. how it could protect da silva from corruption charges. critickercricketers trying to beat out pakistan in the twenty20 championships. first, two suspects remain on the run following a raid oh by police on an apartment in brussels. the raid was connected to the attacks in paris. the dead man had been armed with an rival and found with an isil flag. two people detained after that raid have been released. >> since november 14th, more than house searches were conducted and 58 persons arrests. in addition to that, 23 persons were arrested in linked

investigations. a team of six police officers from september. this mixed team is the result of the fact that the investigation is carried out by joint investigation teams composed of french investigators. >> the police have arrested four people under suspension of planning an attack in paris. they were arrested at dawn. jacky rowland has more on this from paris. >> the main suspect who was detained on wednesday is a 20-year-old frenchman of moroccan origin someone already known to the police. he was arrested back in 2012 as he was planning to board a flight to go to syria. suspected of wanting to go and fight there. now he is only just been released from prison in october of last year. in fact, he was already being

held under house arrest since the end of february as part of the state of emergency here in france. now, he was arrested as were three members of his entourage. that's how they've been described by the french authorities, his girlfriend and two other men, brothers, french nationality of turkish origin. now during the searches apparently no actual weaponry was seized. just some computer materials, and a safe. apparently the arrests took place within the context of the heightened state of alert in france at the moment. it's not clear to what extent any plans they might have had were actually being prepared or made concrete. certainly one commentator on french hamas been described as an intellectual project. currently in the current climate especially given those arrests

linked to the paris attacks that took place in belgium on tuesday, french police decided it was better to be prudent in the current circumstances. >> now, morocco has threatened to pull its soldiers out of u.n. peacekeeping missions following comments made by ban ki-moon. he was accused of taking sides after he said morocco was occupying the region of western sahara. they said that ban ki-moon has insulted it's people and it plans to end it's financial contribution to operating costs. for more on this let's go live to the u.n. in new york. clearly they are very angry with ban ki-moon. >> right, and it would appear that the feeling might be mutual. what we're hearing is that the united nations is assessing what that means, the removal of upo

financial component. beyond that it would appear that ban ki-moon is digging in. this is what the u.n. spokesman had to say a little earlier. >> we do hope to, as i said, to move on to a constructive and positive relations with morocco. we're obviously taking note, and we'll have to deal with the decisions they've taken. the secretary germ said what he said. he does not walk away from it. he expressed from what i said yesterday, he expressed regret that there was a misunderstanding over the use of the word but that's it. >> that word being "occupation." the question now being asked is whether ban ki-moon meant to capitalize some type of debate or controversy over this conflict resolution process, it has been running for decades. there was supposed to be a referendum on self determination for those in western sahara.

morocco already said it would not consider self determination but only autonomy, which makes the referendum moot. the other issue is how internationalized this all is. those in western sahar raw. those calling for self determination have the africa union behind them. morocco, this is the big question at the u.n. do they feel emboldened by the tacit support of france. that has always been a charge leveled by human rights groups and that's why many say it has not progressed the way that it has. france vehemently denies that it has held things up. now we'll see what will happen now that ban ki-moon has used the "o" word, occupation. >> germany has rescued hundreds of refugees off the libyan coast. more than 600 people were brought ashore on wednesday in

italy. the u.n. refugee agency said that more than a million refugees have crossed into europe via the avian sea. in greece thousands of refugees are stuck with no hope of continuing further north where the borders have been closed. thousands of people who aren't from syria and therefore unlikely to be granted asylum. al jazeera's reports from lesbos. >> the macedonia border has been turned into a giant holding pen for refugees. many live in camps. frothose from other countries are set up in camps set up by volunteers. this is perhaps the most they will receive and the warmest they will get. >> what is going on.

it's a crucial time for me. >> those mainly are from pakistan and morocco. the european union considers them economic migrants, and therefore unqualified for refugee status. >> the number of refugees continues to arrive every day. they left their lives but cannot go any further. the border is close to them. every day the volunteers struggle to give them the most basic of humanitarian assistance to the desperate people. >> i'm amazed by these human beings. i'm amazed they still thank you. if you're in this situation all the time, there is no solution and they're not recognized. it could be hard. >> as europe pins it's hopes on stopping its misery they look at turkey. many here fear they will be

returned. but when they have left and risked everything to get here, return may seem inconceivable. >> we can't go back to our countries. what will we live on if we return? >> the refugees have safety here. and the destructio game of cricket in a dull setting. in a country with bleak prospects. >> still to come on the news hour. china unveils a new five-year plan emphasizing economic reform. now a palestinian boy orphaned in an arson attack will meet his sporting hero. plus hero's top level clubs will continue their quarter time place in the champions league. we'll look ahead to wednesday night's action a little later.

>> welcome back and a reminder of the top stories here on al jazeera. the pyd has announced plans from

an autonomous region in syria. abraham has nominated an appeals court judge merrick garland as judge for the supreme court. but some have accused obama of politicizing the process. donald trump and hillary clinton pull further in the races for their party's nominations to be u.s. president. brazil is deciding on the rules of the impeachment of president dilma rousseff. it comes as her predecessor is new chief of staff. that's a mu they accuse him of money laundering and fraud. the former president denies the charges and is cab inspect

appoint now means that he that is immunity from the current petrobras investigation. now why has the current president decided effectively to game this immunity to the predecessor? >> well, among other things, on sunday here we saw three million people come out basically calling for her to step down. she's been widely unpoplar. nowhere near the popularity that lula had while he was in office. now he sees this, his appointment to her cabinet as a way to try to gain back the confidence of the public. the works party which she's the leader of now, feels he still has wide mass base support. they're saying that those who came out calling for her to step down were part of the middle class and the larger part of the nomination is quite happy with the workers party, and they

believe having him in the cabinet with her will firm up her position. many are saying putting him in the cabinet will have him running the country and president rousseff will become more of a symbolic head. he's already supposedly suggesting changes in the cabinet wanting to appoint other people there that he can basically have the support of. what is happening in with regards to this impeachment process. >> well at the moment they're meeting on the guidelines. as it is the lower house has the greater weight in terms of the vote. many people want to see that changed. many of the supreme court judges are wanting the lower house and the senate to have equal say in the impeachment proceedings. that's going to be decided at the end of day here there will

be a decision on that. aside from that they're talking about guidelines on choosing who is going to sit on the impeac impeachment commission that will drive the leader of the lower house who wanted the voting to be done in secret. many feeling that that basically is a failure of transparency and trust, and they're calling for the supreme court to basically step in and decide how these proceedings are going to go. all in all, though, they're pretty much fast tracking proceedings here. many in the opposition wanting to see president rousseff removed in a matter of weeks. >> thank you so much. argentina's lower house of congress has approved a repayment deal with the nation's remaining creditors. if approved by the senate, it will allow argentina to reenter global credit market. we have reports from buenos aires.

>> argentina's dispute with the old out funds over billions of dollars of unpaid edit has been a shadow of political development. the new president took off this last december determined to resolve it. so reopen the country for much needed foreign investment. >> the resolution is key. both to improve argentina's reserves standing forward looking, the capacity to financial market. >> the former president calls the hedge funds vulture preying on vulnerable countries. talks broke down with argentina in the united nations. their resolution backing the nation's right to protect it from creditors was approved overwhelmingly. creditors were not happy. >> there have been countries ranging from liberia, the ivory

coast, greece, ecuador, russia. argentina stands out as a country that refused to talk. >> one of the largest hedge funds the u.n. maritime tribunal ordered its release. for the hedge funds the argument is simple. debts must be paid and paid with interest. they should be able to hold sway in the interest of profit over whole countries. countries often rebuilding vulnerable economies. the larger hedge fund from new york where the debts were bought. some debts have been paid. argentina's financial sector said that the dispute was a huge

impediment to growth. >> there have been many things improving regarding foreign investors. >> argentina's economic problems are not over. reserves are still low and inflation still high. but the hope here on the street is that at least one overbearing conflict from their troubled past may soon be resolved. al jazeera, buenos aires. >> saudi-led airstrikes have killed more than 100 civilians in the northwestern province of haija. this hathere is investigation into the report. two female suicide-bombers have killed 22 people outside of a mosque in northeast nigeria.

more than a dozen bystanders were wounded in the attacks near maidugari. the first bomb targeted the mosque, and the second bomber blue herself up close by a few memberships later. a child was standing directly behind one of the bombers. 15 people have been killed in peshawar. the bus was carrying mainly government employees and blew up while it was crossing through a shopping direct. the taliban said that it carried out the attack in revenge of death sentences given to members of its group on tuesday. >> it appears to be a timed device according to security forces. the bomb close to the toolbox. also reports that the bus driver was still able to drive although he was critically wounded.

he was bussed to a nearby facility so that the rescue efforts could get under way. according to the local hospital sources there are dozens who are in serious condition in hospitals so the likelihood of the death toll going higher cannot be ruled out. at the moment no one has taken responsibility, but this is, indeed, a deadly attack against government officials, the second since 2013. such an attack took place against such officials will traveling on a bus in which 17 people were killed. >> all right, let's take you back to our main story that calls for the establishment 6 an 6of an autonomous kurdish area. the pyd was founded in northern

syria in 2003 by kurds who say they suffered years of violence oppression by the syrian government. the ypg fought along side forces to battle isil in syria. the ypg is accused of affiliation to the pkk, which is viewed as a terrorist organization by syria, turkey, and some western countries. since the start of the war the pyd has gained territory in northern syria helped by president assad's focus on fighting the original rebels and, of course, isil. with me now in the studio a kurdish writer and political analyst. thank you so much for coming in to the studio. why announce plans for federal region right now. is that because the kurdish group has simply been invited to those talks in geneva? >> there is already a political entity. i don't know what you call it.

maybe there have been these talks when they have been invited. >> how do they legitimate eye ize those areas that they have taken control of? >> it happened in northern iraq. it was autonomous region unti until 2003 when they claimed legitimacy. now they have administration, and now they--they also have some international legitimacy, too. >> in what sense? >> in the sense that they manage to kick isis out. we've seen this fighting there

has been a lot of publicity, and even for foreign nationalities fighting. it has gained some legitimacy. >> the reality is that there are many who are against this idea of autonomous region for the syrian curds. you've got turkey. you've also got the syrian government and there are various other parties who are not going to like the idea of breaking syria up. >> and i don't know that about this fear. i don't think that the political groups stated they want to be a state. >> also look at the germany.

if that's the way forward for syria to gain peace, i think that's not a bad way forward. >> turkey absolutely hates the idea. what a kurdish autonomous region in syria, would that encourage turkey to push for separatism, which is what the turks fear right now? >> this argument was discussed from 1991 and debated to establishing the regime. the kurdistan government. and if if they help turkey in many ways to ease the kurdish issue, to negotiate peace talks and to help economically. maybe there are 400,000 of occur at this. so it becomes very partner with turkey i don't know why this fear is. the ypd, saying if they can dod

it in syria, why can't we do it in turkey? we've been fighting for separatism in all these years. these people are allies and have achieved just that. >> thagain, they demand their rights and i believe that brings it forward. >> this idea of the autonomous region for kurds in syria, what impact will that have on talks that the kurds have not been talking to, will it have an

impact? >> well, i don't know. this is legitimacy. the more influential political and military force against isil have not been invited to talks. that does not talk about there. it talks about the talks in geneva. don't forget, the area is controlled by the syrian regime. if their not invited to the political talks, it questions the legitimacy of the geneva talks. >> really good to get your thoughts. thank you.

>> my pleasure. >> china said that they'll stay on track. the national people's congress has approved a five year plan which aims for 6.5% growth each year by 2020. adrian brown reports. >> it's not a place for surprises or displays of disseptember. this was a tightly controlled political gathering where delegates once more rubber stamp decisions made in private by the leadership. a leadership that continues to insist that all is well with china's economy. >> we're full of confidence in the long term prospects of the economy. as long as we sit to reform and open up, they will not see a hard landing. >> the prime minister holds one conference a year.

reform, he said, would be having to shut down more inefficient state-owned industries. a tensesive subject. >> we will press ahead to reduce capacity, but we must insure that the rice bowls of the workers are still there. or we must give them new rice bowls. >> in other words, the government is still hesitating about how hard to wield the axe. it worries that widespread redone adoptcies in the steel and mining sectors could lead to unrest as has happened earlier this week. the hong kong based china labor bulletin monitors industrial unrest in china and says that laid off workers are becoming more emboldened. >> many have been working for ten years, 20 years and they're entitled to quite substantial severance pay. if they don't get that then there is a danger that there will be more protests across the

whole country. >> the prime minister says that he set aside $20 billion to help workers who have been made redundant, promising more money if it's need. the national people's congress won't convene for another year, the year that they say will be a difficult one. especially for miners and steelworkers. adrian brown, al jazeera, beijing. >> a five-year-old palestinian boy who was orphaned in an or san attack last july is making a dream trip to spain to meet his sporting hero. his brother and parents were killed b by israeli settlers. now he has come to the attention of one the world's most famous footballers. >> like many five-year-olds, he's getting into football and his favorite player is striker cristiano ronaldo. he's closest to his grandfather

because his home wag fire bombed by israeli settlers in july of last year. his 18-month-old brother was killed straight away. their father died in hospital a week later and in september their mother also succumbed to her injuries. >> ahmed asks me every day about his parents. he asks me where is heaven. how far is it from our house? the other day i found him looking at his mother's photo. he told me that he was asking her where she was. i believe ahmed will need more psychological help. >> he suffered serious burns and has already had several operations. his treatment at this israeli hospital is far from finished, but he's surrounded by staff and volunteers who make sure that he feels loved, and now he's getting a special trip to spain to visit real madrid and meet cristiano ronaldo. >> he was wearing a shirt of ronaldo. we pictured him on facebook. then some guys from the

negotiation saw him on facebook and said that know ronaldo and they can connect and maybe he can visit him. and so they did. >> well, of course, ahmed faces a longer journey, his rehabilitation, but here at the hospital they're trying to give him as much of a normal childhood as they can. >> and that means lots of love. as well as an once in a lifetime trip to the spanish capital to meet his footballing hero. al jazeera, tel aviv. >> still to come on the program, all the sport including we'll find out why decades of dangerous defections by cuban baseball players are at its end.

>> hello again. we go to sport now with sa na. >> thank you. fifa is seeking tens of millions of dollars in compensation from the former executives at the heart of the united states corruption investigation. the organization has submitted a 22-page claim to the u.s. attorney's office in new york. they want a big share of the $190 million already forfeited by formal football and officials who have pleaded guilty. in addition to compensation for their legal cost and brand damage as a result of the case total of 41 individuals have been charged by u.s. authorities to date. for the first time fifa has

admitted that bribes were taken in exchange for world cup votes. well, for more on that story i'm joined by david darken, international sports attorney who joins us live from washington. this sounds like fifa is suing itself, and are you surprised by this? >> i was surprised by this. i think this is simply a matter of fifa posturing at this juncture to basically say that to appear that there are victims that they're unaware of this. and they recover the hundreds of millions of dollars that u.s. authorities have collected. i'm not sure that it's a feasible argument. i think it takes bravado but i was surprised by this. >> let's say that this is your case and fifa have come up to you. do you think that they have a chance of winning this? >> well, i think this is standard protocol whenever you have a criminal act. you'll have people who will have victim who is will find for basically to be made whole.

it's standard. what is unusual about this is one can argue that fifa arguebly was aware of at least some of this. had knowledge of this and didn't act. they have chutzpah to have filed this. >> what do you think will come of the world cup coming up. >> i'm not sure. there are hints, i don't think there is black and white evidence in with regards to the world cup. what is most interesting is that the admission that there was corruption would suggest that the other bidding parties at this point could possibly file for recovery of all the expenses related to the bids that have appeared to be fraudulent. that to me is the most interesting angle on this today.

>> david larken, international sports attorney who joins us from washington. thank you very much. >> thanks so much. >> the about the to secure a champions league, bayern munich has the advantage heading into the second leg of their last 16 against juventus. bayern hopes that the weather does not stand in the way of finishing the job against juventus. defending champions barcelona host arsenal in their tie. they won 2-0 in the first leg and they would score twice and will have a chance of progressing. >> the first leg result obviously has a degree of influence on the next. it was a very good result but it won't change at all the way we plan and prepare our game plan. it remains an open knock out stage.

we're aware we need to play a great game in order to make it to the next stage. >> i have played 200 games in champions league. i know that we've won everywhere in europe but not here yet. we're in position where we have to achieve that tomorrow. i'm convinced that the players have decided and are i couldn't nighted to give a strong response. >> on matters between saudi arabia and iran and saudi arabian football games are to be played at neutral venues. the saudi government has banned any of its nationals from traveling to iran due to poor relations to the countries. saudi and iranian clubs are scheduled to meet in the asian champions league and will have until march 25th to submit proposal. >> they have opened the campaign

of the cricket championships. they have led the way early for pakistan smashed 64 before being called out with a brilliant catch. they would blast 49 from 19 balls as they posted 201-5 with their innings. they would follow that up with 55 runs short of victory target. well, beating england in the super ten march. they would make 84-6 and they snatched the 47 ball his side to a six-wicked victory. well, cuban baseballers is set to get a whole lot easier. where obama's administration has changed relations with cuba.

it means that the mlb clubs will now be able to sign cuban baseball player directly an and pay them. an nfl star has been allowed time off from his day job in order to compete this year's olympics. he's a super bowl winner with the new england patriots and also former u.s. rugby sense of player. he has been permitted to take a leave of absence and hopes to claim a spot in the u.s. team. that's all your sport. i'll hand you back to felicity in london. >> sana, thanks so much. we'll remind you that you can find out much more on many of the stories we're covering on our website. that's the address to click on to, that is www.aljazeera.com. www.aljazeera.com. that's it from me, figure histy bar anfelicity barr and the

news hour team. david foster will be here in a moment's time.